Community Projects

Recapturing Kids Hearts, a community action project which will bring together a diverse group of people to impact the lives of some of our students who are in the most need, seeks to provide them with opportunities to be college and/or career ready. The district’s mission is to educate, prepare and inspire all students and this includes students who are at-risk of not being college and/or career ready due to various factors.

Epworth Children’s Home cares for children ages four to eighteen that have been victims of abuse or neglect. Children come to Epworth from across South Carolina via government placement through the Department of Social Services or private placement, often by a pastor or grandparent. Located on a beautiful 32-acre campus in Columbia, Epworth provides a safe nurturing environment.

Members of Merge emphasized addressing the current needs of non-profit organizations in Columbia that utilize the diverse talents of local professionals. Their focus was to give beyond monetary donations by also giving of their own time and talents. Members of Merge achieved this goal by creating a pool of volunteers consisting of themselves and colleagues to volunteer at various non-profit organizations that would most benefit from advisory work.

Mix It Up utilized a previously established national program named Mix It Up. The program is designed for high school students to spend one session of lunch sitting with randomly selected students, as opposed to their standard group of friends. Once at the table with these new students, a facilitator walks them through some questions about the similarities and differences they have with these new students as well as their typical lunch mates. Mix It Up took this idea and implemented it in the cafeterias at Michelin, NA headquarters and at the Greenville Health System.

Mozaik group members set their sights on providing an educational and fun summer program for many of the region's at-risk, or high-potential youth. Particular emphasis was placed on children between ages 7-12 living in the poorer peninsula communities around Charleston. Their vision culminated in the creation of a five-week night camp called "Camp Hope" that provides positive, educational experiences for these youth for five weeks during the summer. Team Mozaik utilized the power of partnership and brought together 24 agencies to partner in providing this camp.

The care of the environment is not a racial or gender problem. It is our problem because we all live in this beautiful planet called Earth. However, its beauty is declining because of our trash. There is one very simple way for us all to help resolve the issue – recycling. Our current methods of disposing of trash have become a major hazard. Landfills, which were simply designed to be a mound or large hole of trash that is covered, are very well on its way to meeting its capacity. Resources for expansion are diminishing.

While small, rural towns - like Hartsville, SC - confront many of the same problems as urban cities, they also face challenges that are distinct, including the lack of easy-to-get-to support services. This lack can affect the educational growth and skill development of rural youth. At the same time, people who live and work in rural places boast a strong sense of community and willingness to work together to make things better.

Teach for America, a national non-profit organization that places new teachers in low-performing schools, will make its first entry into South Carolina during the 2011-12 school year. The program will bring thirty bright, young teachers for two-year teaching tenures in Florence, Orangeburg, Darlington and Clarendon Counties. The TFA team project focuses on helping welcome these new teachers from all across the US and making them quickly become comfortable in South Carolina.

The biggest predictor of test scores and college access in the United States is income. There is a disparity in opportunities that students have access to outside of school, and evidence that this gap is widening. Recognizing this problem in Greenville and that the experiences of each individual in our group positions us to be able to be part of the solution, Out & About: Connecting Kids with Opportunities decided to pursue ways to increase the diversity of opportunities for low-income children in Greenville.

Building upon the success of two prior Capstone projects, Team Pay It Forward partnered with a program with proven results: Momentum Bike Clubs (MBC). MBC mission is to positively impact the development of young people through mentoring relationships by establishing bike clubs in underserved communities.